Indemnity
by planet p
Summary: AU; future fic set in 2100. Getting a life isn't as easy as it seems.


**Indemnity** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

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**AU; future fic. Written 10 September, 2009. Yeah, pretty hard to understand.**

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_2100_

Mississippi stepped out of the facility and lowered her sunglasses from the top of her head and perched them on her nose. She walked across the crumbling concrete of the parking lot, toward her younger brother, Nate's, vehicle. Even as she walked, concrete turned to powder and broken clumps beneath her boots. She pulled the front passenger side door and climbed inside, closing the door after her.

Grinning, Nate leant across and switched on the stereo. The vehicle filled with samba. Nate put it into gear and backed out of the parking bay.

Once they'd driven clear of the facility's perimeter, Mississippi leant across and pressed her left hand middle finger to the side of the windshield. A semi-translucent screen appeared that covered half of the windshield, showing a blonde-haired blue-eyed man.

"We have the serum," Mississippi informed the man, whose single response was to nod. Mississippi tapped her finger to the inside of her palm, where she wore a control pad for the screen that covered half of the windshield, incorporated into the pair of black gloves that she wore.

Of their group, her brother, Pray, was the only equipped to handle the upgrades; upon occasion, the upgrades afforded him brief moments of clarity.

"Lex," Mississippi greeted, as the image on the screen changed, showing another man now. Two other men moved into view on the screen. "We have the serum; they do not suspect."

"Jemal will be pleased to hear of this," Lex's co-worker, Rod commented of their superior.

"I have already apprised him of the development," Mississippi replied.

Beside him, Rod's younger brother, Barcelona frowned. "You are certain that they remain unwitting?" he asked urgently.

"Certainly," Mississippi responded confidently. If any suspicion had come of her actions, the Murmurings would have warned her.

Iam and RJ were awaiting her arrival in the Inf, and declared her fit to attend debrief. She nodded to Nate on her way out of the Inf. They'd see each other soon for mid-meal.

Miley, Rod and Barcelona's younger sister and one of Jemal's numerous assistants, greeted her on her way into Confidence 1-B, a conference room on the first floor. Miley showed her to a seat to await their superior's appearance.

She'd handed over the serum to the relevant level security officers when she'd entered the building, and had been cleared for entrance by their young auburn-haired receptionist, Buzz.

Buzz's father, Bruce, worked in Engineering, and Mississippi often saw him and his daughter in Employee Dining. Iam's grandson, RJ, often sat with them also, and Mississippi had heard rumour that he and Buzz were an item.

In fact, their Reader, Angels, had confirmed as much when she'd asked him of the arrangement.

Beside her sat the scientist, Margo, and identical brothers, Cobb and Deney, also, themselves, scientists. Mississippi felt outnumbered, though she supposed she needn't have been so nervous, nor anxious. She'd completed her mission directive without apparent complication; she'd done an excellent job.

Miley served them tea in expensive teacups from the room's small kitchenette, and Mississippi sipped her tea slowly. If all went well, she'd join Nate in Employee Dining for mid-meal and take the carriage down to Heart to visit Pray, on S-27.

Miley, whom Pray had decided to nickname Feathers, gave her a small, reassuring smile, and she brightened slightly. Of course, everything would go smoothly.

They'd be able to replicate more of the serum from the sample she'd stolen from the government facility, and, with the right calibrations, deactivate the biomechatronic components in those that they were able to capture (or convince to their ranks) from their rivals, cutting of their rivals' means of hitting the 'kill switch,' so to speak, on their former employees, and gaining themselves not only the tactical advantage of larger numbers, but valuable knowledge of their rivals' operations.

Once the serum was administered and deactivated, the serum would rapidly deteriorate within the host's body and the inert biomechatronic components would pass harmlessly out of the body as waste products.

The process was discomforting, from all accounts held by the intel they'd been able to gather, but not lethal.

C. T. Indemnity's stocks would pick up with their much improved functioning, and Mississippi would soon be able to make the last down payment on her home. She'd soon own her own home; she was excited.

They might have started out as a small group of escaped Center clones out of Iowa, but they'd banded together and formed their own company in Ramona, Texas, and started new lives.

They didn't belong to the Center, nor to anyone else. Their lives belonged to no one but themselves, and they'd proved that over fifteen years ago when they'd first escaped.

The door to the conference room opened and Jemal entered, followed by his person security personnel, Orson and Yolanda.


End file.
